How Greywolf Writes Danny Phantom
by Greywolf
Summary: First in a series of oneshots that take a brief, humorous look into the deranged workings of one author's mind and how he gets his ideas.


**Author's Notes:** Alright, this is the first time I've ever done something like this, and I thought I'd do a series of one-shots similar to it just for the sake of trying something different. Enjoy.

How Greywolf Writes- Danny Phantom

The author sat in front of his keyboard... bored out of his mind. **"Jesus, it's a slow day. I need to do something... Eh, what the hell, more writing should do it. Not like I've got anything better to do, depressing as that sounds."**

He had a lot of serious projects he was working on, but he was keeping those on the backburner for rewrites. Fanfiction crossed his mind. But what to write about? AU was always his forte, so it only made sense. But he'd need a good hook. A good "What if...?" to make it stick. Well, when in a pinch...

**"Yo, guys! Get out here. I need a little help."**

Materializing out of the ether into the chaotic plane that is the author's imagination where reality and the physical laws become moot, the three main characters of the cartoon Danny Phantom found themselves looking into the void for the booming unseen voice that so routinely controlled their fate.

"What is it this time?" Danny asked with a hint of exasperation.

**"I feel like writing again. Another AU. Anything in particular you guys always wanted to try?"**

"I'm cool with anything that doesn't have me cutting myself again," Sam grumbled. "Honestly, it was okay the first time, but all these writers keep portraying me as an angsty little emo-kid just because I'm Goth. It's getting on my nerves!"

**"No argument here."**

"Oh, I've got something!" Tucker chimed in. "I'm noticing a distinct lack of me getting some action lately. How about writing me up a date? Eh, eh?"

**"How exactly am I supposed to base a whole AU on that?"**

"Do you really want us to answer that question?" Sam asked dryly with a smirk cast in Tucker's direction.

"Cold," Danny commented. "Real cold."

"Har dee har har." Tucker gave them both a glare and folded his arms over his chest in indignation.

"Seriously, though," Danny mused as he raked a hand back through his bangs, "I always wanted to try a sci-fi. You know, sort of a Star Wars kinda thing."

**"Okay that's one option. You guys game for that?"**

"Sounds okay to me," Sam answered with a shrug.

"Advanced technology is always good," Tucker thought aloud while rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.

**"Any other suggestions?"**

"Well..." Sam seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I always wanted to try a Victorian period piece."

"You mean like steampunk?" Tucker asked enthusiastically. "I love steampunk!"

"I was actually thinking more of a supernatural thriller," Sam declared in mild exasperation. "Danny?"

Danny clearly didn't like being put on the spot again. "Uh... Either one's cool with me."

Fortunately, the author was feeling gracious. ** "Okay, steampunk and supernatural thriller. This is good so far. Keep it coming."**

"If steampunk is on the list, cyberpunk would be awesome too," Tucker declared before either of his friends could speak.

"Like Bladerunner? That would be pretty cool," Sam said in a rare moment of agreement with Tucker. "Or a crime thriller with us as private investigators or something."

"Or a samurai-type story," Danny added. He then started singing, "Samurai, do you live to die? Your eyes look to the sky!"

Sam narrowed her eyes and looked to the author. "You know, we blame you for this. You just had to go and write him as a metalhead in your last fic, didn't you?"

**"Would you prefer I write you as a Good Charlotte fan for absolutely no good reason like every other fic out there?"**

Sam winced and pursed her lips. "Point taken."

**"I'm glad we see eye-to-eye here. Anyway, we've got sci-fi, steampunk, supernatural thriller, cyberpunk, crime thriller, samurai. What else?"**

"You're kidding," Danny remarked. "That's not enough to work with? Did you burn yourself out already?"

**"Uh... um... I sleep now!"**

"Nice try," Sam chided, "but we've all seen The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra."

"Hey, that reminds me," Tucker interrupted. "Maybe we could do an atomic age horror bit!"

"That _would_ be pretty cool," Danny remarked. "Going ghost on giant ants and space aliens... Yeah, that would be awesome!"

Sam rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe... though I hope the author knows damn well which girl the hero is supposed to get in the end." She punctuated her statement with an arched eyebrow and an accusing look.

**"Jesus. Who says women aren't competitive?"**

"I know what you mean," Danny said with a laugh. "I swear, it's like they all instinctively hate each other."

"You wanna say that again?" Sam responded with a threatening tone as her hands balled into fists.

"Not particularly," Danny answered quickly, his face going a little pale.

Much to his relief, though, Sam quickly brushed it all off as if it hadn't even happened. They weren't even dating yet, and he was so whipped. "Anyway, if we're going to put atomic horror on that list, you might as well throw in either a George Romero-esque zombie horror, or something with vampires or werewolves."

**"Romero? Werewolves?"** The author quickly lapsed into his really bad Groucho Marx impersonation. **"Say the secret woid, and win a hundred dollahs."** Thankfully, he stopped after that. **"Now you're talking my language. So now we add atomic horror, zombie horror, and vampires/werewolves to the list."**

Danny's eyebrows went up with an idea. "Throw in a Weird War II fic while you're at it."

Tucker looked over with a grin. "You mean like Wolfenstein?"

"Hell yeah!" Danny replied with a high five.

Sam smirked and shook her head. "We need more good games like that."

Danny and Tucker looked over at her a second before the memories came crashing down. "Oh yeah, that's right," Danny pointed out flatly. "Chaos."

Sam's smirk turned into a fairly smug one. "Forget so easily, boys?"

"To be honest," Tucker said reluctantly, "my male ego was doing it's damndest to disembowel that from my memory banks."

Sam rolled her eyes and draped her arms over the two boys' shoulders. "And what's your excuse, ghost boy?"

Danny paused a moment, unsure how to answer. "Uh... I'm kinda slow?"

Sam pulled him into a playful headlock, eliciting a laugh from him. "Good enough."

"Hey, I just though of something!" Danny exclaimed as he struggled free of Sam's grip.

**"Care to enlighten us, oh spectral one?"**

Danny put on a smirk smug enough to put Sam's to shame and folded his arms over his now puffed out chest. "Deadlands, the weird west. Think about it. It's a period piece, so that makes Sam happy. It's got some steampunk to it, so that makes Tucker happy. And I can still pull off being half-ghost and being the hero type."

Everyone stared in surprise at Danny's moment of zen. The wheels in Tucker's head were audibly turning with the possibilities, and Sam looked like she could have jumped Danny right then and there.

**"You know... that actually might work. I'll get around to writing that tomorrow when I'm not lazy."**

Danny quickly deflated. "What? Hey, wait a second!"

**"Silence. Everyone get back in your cages. I sleep now."**

**-x-**

**Author's Notes:** As I said, just a little one-shot I did to try and get the creative juices flowing. Take it as you like. I literally cobbled this together in about an hour just because I felt like writing _anything._ I'm not going to bother re-writing it because I can't take it seriously enough.

If any of you are wondering whether or not I'll get around to writing any of those AUs described above... no, not in the foreseeable future. But if any of you would like to take a crack at them, be my guest. It would actually make my day to see a Danny Phantom cyberpunk or Weird West.

And now, since it's pretty late as I type this out, I really mean it when I say... I sleep now!


End file.
